Babies put into their own room at six months 'sleep longer'

Conclusion The study shows an association between infant and parent room-sharing at 4 and 9 months and infants sleeping for less both in the short and longer term. It also showed a link between room-sharing and unsafe practices such as leaving objects such as blankets in the cot. However, the results of this study need to be treated cautiously as there are some limitations to the research: The findings do not prove that putting babies in their own room helps them sleep for longer. It might be that some parents of infants who were not sleeping very well anyway decided to keep their baby in the room with them. The data collected was self-reported by the parents. There might be inaccuracies in their memory of how long their infant slept, which could have biased results. The sample was relatively small to draw certain comparative results. It also included mostly white mothers with a relatively high income who were married or living with a partner and all had at least two bedrooms. This might mean that the results are less generalisable to other demographics. The study was also carried out in the US and therefore might not be as relevant to a UK setting. Other factors such as who the main caregiver is and how many caregivers are involved in bedtime practices were not taken into account and may have biased the findings. The researchers discuss past studies that have linked infant sleeping practices with risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). However this study r...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news